Dumping Orpik pretty much solves the entire cap problem. It definitely does if they can trade him w/o any retention.
This feels like a team without a direction at the moment. The short term plan seems to be keeping together as much of the roster as possible. What's the medium and long term plan? Let good players (Backstrom, Kuzy, Nisky, Orlov) waste prime years with a bunch of league minimum guys on the bottom pairing and 4th lines?
At this point they should be open for business in legit hockey trades. Forget this Orpik dump and futures sweeteners stuff. Maybe also do that but they should be entertaining more than just that. They need more of a vision than just grinding the numbers down, maintaining the same core minus UFA losses and the addition of unexceptional cheap depth.
3C like Cody Eakin could help I think. Orpik + for Eakin - would you do it?
Vegas wouldn't. They're trying to get rid of defensemen, not take more. Additionally, GMGM stated he wants to hang onto the younger players. They only have 3 forwards younger than Eakin, and are starved for center depth. If Marchessault ends up on the wing, Eakin could be their 2C.
Also, Eakin has a higher cap hit than Eller.
That Mojo deal is awful. Devils knew we were in cap hell and ran with it